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I never noticed the plastron of my tort being concaved until after I got flashed. I don't know how long they do it or if there is certain times of the year they do it, or if they will only now do it if there is a female around. Someone with older ones will hopefully be able to fill in those blanks. As far as how long they do it, once they start. I'm sure there all different. Mine was a proud male LOL and every other day I would soak him and he would let it show. It did last for about a month or a little longer. Haven't seen him do it since, but then again, I soak him less now and don't pay any attention, seeing how I already know what he is

Now that he has found "it", he won't mind showing it much more often. I literally though mine had pooped out his guts when I picked him up the first time he was displaying himself - until it struck me what I was actually looking at. To say tortoises are well-endowed is an under-statement. I still find him playing around with himself out in the yard, but now I can tell what he's up to by the way he stands and moves. If you have females too, he's gonna be following them around a bunch now.

I was worried he was pooping out his intestines, too. Then I got down and had a good look at it... I find, too, that you can tell when it's out by the way they stand. They get up as high on their tip-toes as possible!

Well, I suppose him and his weapon will be making appearances often. I hope the neighbour kids don't mind. :S Explaining the birds and the bees with a tortoise sounds awkward.

I cant imagine one that size living in my living room! poop pee and destruction.. how do you do it? !

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Haha! It's not always fun.

1. Always have an abundance of paper towels handy. I attempted to "go green" and use an old wash cloth... yeah, no. I can't believe how much he pees. I'd need a towel.

2. Find out where he likes to dig in the corners and set up wall-blockers that you don't mind get all scratched up. We have cheap white shelves from a home hardware store that have sticky-putty on the backs, and we un stick and move them however we need.

3. Distract him with objects to push around so he can feel all big and powerful and stuff.

4. We have part of our garage set up for him when we aren't home, or super annoyed by him, with a maze of carboard boxes set up so he doesn't get too bored.

5. Take him out on long walks every other day.

But, I like having him around. When we can afford it we'd like to build a house that has a backyard walk-out from the kitchen so he can go in and out as he pleases. Nothing wrong with a 10 year goal!

Wewt, how old ? how much does your tortoise weight? What kind? Could you post some pics, pls? Does he live inside all the time ?

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Sulcata. He is approx. 8 years old, but I'm not 100% sure on that, since I am at least his 3rd owner. He weighs 23 pounds before eating and after pooping.

He lives inside all of the time. Every other day I take him to my friend's house for a few hours where she can romp and eat all he wants.

I'm not too good at posting pictures on this site yet, but I'll give it a try.

- Pic of him.

- Field he plays in.

- On our patio.

- The garage "tort fort"

- His corner / bed. He sleeps here. There is a warming pad on underneath a bathroom mat that is on 24/7, and his light that is on during the day. The blanket is there for him to dig in; I think he likes sleeping under it because then he can feel like he is in a burrow. Some day he will have a real one, but for now I suppose a blanket is close enough.

Along the same line as Wewt, my Cooper lives in the house, but he dont pee or poop on the floor. He goes in the bath or his cage while he spends his 4-6 hours in there. 75% of the time he pees when he eats, and he gets fed in the tub also.
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Cooper is 29 months old, 31 pounds, 18 inches long.

This very interesting to me. I never thought about it. How long have you owned him? Do you live in a house or apartment?
Thank you for sharing.

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I've had him for about two years now. We just recently moved from a small condo into a townhouse. We have a small yard, but his mid-day grazing torched the grass pretty quickly, so we can't let him out there any more.

cemmons12 said:

Along the same line as Wewt, my Cooper lives in the house, but he dont pee or poop on the floor. He goes in the bath or his cage while he spends his 4-6 hours in there. 75% of the time he pees when he eats, and he gets fed in the tub also.
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Cooper is 29 months old, 31 pounds, 18 inches long.

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Question: How did you get yours to not pee or poop on the floor? Do you think he is somewhat trained to go in a certain area, or is it just luck and having him in his place most of the time?

Evy said:

Wewt, I meant to say that living indoors never crossed my mind.
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Cemmons12 and Wewt where do you guys live? Does the whether affects your tortoises to live outside or it's personal preference.

Cemmons12 could you pls, posted pictures. Please

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I live in BC, Canada. So far the weather has been nice here, but my vet told me that it gets quite humid and so I'll have to purchase a de-humidifier. Weather hasn't effected us too much, though.

When I lived in Calgary I could only take my tort outside for 3-4 months of the year, which was hard on him. During this time he spent most of the day sleeping.

He just doesnt do it, we are just as amazed as anybody about this fact. I only hope he keeps this super great habit up!! But.... after all, he is a tortoise, not a cat or dog, so only time will tell...

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